Tourin' Texas

DATELINE: CADDO MILLS, TX, 8:00 p.m. CST

Miles Today: 478

Well the sun has rose and the sun has set,
And I ain't out of Texas yet.

'Tis a long way to get out of Texas when you start from Laredo, especially when you need to leave through the northern part of the state, as I do with this load. (Well, it wouldn't be that long if you went south or west.) Actually, I could have made it today had I pushed the pace and used all of my allotted driving hours, but I have plenty of time and could use a "shorter" day. So I only drove for 8-3/4 hours today. Most of my route today was straight up I-35 from Laredo, passing through San Antonio, Waco, Austin, and more 'til I hit Dallas and headed east on I-30. I could have made it to Texarkana, AR in another 2 hours, but the truck stops there woulda' been getting full by then. Instead, I stopped here at a Pilot where I've spent the night before.

The weather today was grey with some intermittent misty rain, but no real rainfall. But it was warm enough to walk around outside in just a T-shirt and jeans; not chilly at all. Much better than the weather has been back home, from what I hear. But I'm sure I'll be back in that soon enough.

For the rest of this missive I'll respond to reader nancyr's comments and questions.

1. I don't agree that it's "goof" that I didn't have to wait until 1:00 am to drop my load in Laredo. I actually think it was quite good. (Hey, she nailed me on a typo before, so I gotta call her on hers, right?)

2. Q: Is "netizen" a made-up word? I haven't seen it before.
A: I believe I have encountered it before. I'm sure it is a made-up word, but I didn't make it up. (When you get down to it, weren't ALL words "made-up" at one point or another?)

3. Q: You're driving through a lot of Texas these days. Is there much difference between one area of Texas and another? It's a huge state - but do the different regions feel distinct?
A: Yes.

Oh, you want me to expand on that last answer? OK. The tourist info centers at the rest areas in this state proclaim 7 or 8 distinct regions, from Piney Woods to Prairie. I haven't studied them or remember all of them, but y'all can do some research to find out more. From the parts I've driven through, mainly the eastern half of the state (skipping the obvious differences between urban and "middle of nowhere" areas), the one feature that sticks out as the same to me is the wide open sky. As a Michigander, I'm used to lots of tall trees making it difficult to see much of the horizon. Here in TX, most places have quite expansive horizons. But there are differences from region to region in the amount the ground rolls, and the plant life that dominates. But it all feels like "Texas".

Thanks again for taking time to read about my meandering. Comment away, and keep on truckin'.